He feels the circumstances were “pathetic” and should have been averted if he had been afforded better protection.

McLeish rounded on one fan behind the away dugout shortly after Arsenal equalised from a controversial penalty and referee Martin Atkinson then failed to send off Samir Nasri for kneeing Liam Ridgewell.

Emotions were running high and McLeish boiled over in a manner he has never done before. He turned and had a stand-up row, gesticulating clearly with his hands for the person in question to sit down and shut up.

“A guy was getting out of his seat,” he said. “Where were the stewards? Should people be getting out of their seat? I’m allowed to be getting out of my seat to give instructions. But this guy was out of his seat coming three or four steps down. Why is he allowed out of his seat? He should be sitting in it because he’s causing problems. It’s not right.

“Managers get hauled over the coals, but you get punters coming out of their seat shouting expletives at you. I just told the guy to sit down. Then I asked the stewards, ‘What are you doing about that guy?’ They were just looking at the spat between the two of us and laughing and enjoying it. Pathetic.”

It is not the first time this season that there has been an incident behind the Blues’ dugout. At West Brom, Lee Bowyer and a grandmother exchanged words, with the midfielder accused of using a barrage of expletives.

The proximity of fans to players and management, particularly in modern dugouts that are more or less just a few seats in the first few rows of a stand, does lend itself to such flare-ups.

“I know when there’s a chance everybody stands up and you have to stand up and see the action as well,” said McLeish.

“But to come two or three steps down and start shouting at the manager, what are the stewards doing about that?”